That Day
by TheDuchessofPuppydom
Summary: Stacey left the BSC girls behind when they started high school, now at 16 she wants them back, especially Claudia. Femslash. Don't like, Don't read. But please R&R Flames welcome! They keep me warm at night.
1. Claudia

AN: This story started out as an exercise for a writing group that I'm in. It was supposed to be a 2-3 page one shot about teenage angst. But as I wrote it it kept getting bigger and bigger and the charaters and story just kind of took on a life of thier own. As it was an experiment it has some odd time shifting and changeing charater point of view. I'm going to publish this with an 'M' rating even though it's barely 'T'. But it was supposed to be a basic love scene and these two kookie hormome fueled kids just may get there yet.

That Night

Stacey had finally stopped crying, the hiccups where gone and she clung to the almond eyed Japanese girl with what little strength she had left. Claudia had been amazed when the blonde had first blown into Claudia's bedroom. In the two years that she had stopped speaking to Stacey, or rather Stacey had stopped speaking to Claudia, Claudia's room had changed very little. A half finished sculpture of, something stood in one corner and an almost finished painting of a shadow in another. Drawings in various stages of doneness littered her desk and floor. Hidden from her parents watchful eyes where a box of Ring-Dings and a bag of Doritos and under the mattress of her unmade bed, a Nancy Drew novel, although since turning 16 Claudia was reading those a lot less and Nora Bing novels a lot more.

Two thoughts went through Claudia's mind when Stacey burst into her bedroom. The first thought, riding on a wave of shock and disbelief was to tear into Stacey with her bare hands, a black eye would go well with her deep blues. The second thought fueled by her rising anger was to scream at her, to verbally pound two years of anger, betrayal, hurt and frustration into Stacey. She would let her words do what her tiny fists could never do, her words would be her weapons. But now as she lay next to the blonde, her arms wrapped around her, the only words she had where the little meaningless ones uses for comfort. She didn't want to hurt her now but she wondered how she could hurt someone with words when that someone ignored her. . . laughed at her. . . loved her?

Two years ago when Stacey and Claudia had entered high school Stacey had quickly found "better" friends. Claudia knew, friends who didn't make their clothes from Goodwill cast offs or earrings from bottle caps. Friends who talked about boys instead of art and Nancy Drew cases. Friends who would buy their fashions and not make their fashion. At first Claudia was confused and hurt when Stacey would walk by with her new friends and pretend not to see her. But as Stacey continued to ignore her and the days turned into weeks and weeks to months Claudia finally came to accept that Stacey was out of her life, and besides she still had Kristy and Mary Anne. But even before Kristy started spending more and more of her time with sports and Bart and with Mary Anne spending her time with Logan, Claudia missed having some one to talk to about the things she loved. Stacey may not have loved the same things but she always listened and smiled and offered 'help' with her art projects. Her help usually involved making wild and sometimes obscene suggestions but Claudia would laugh with her and she took it for granted that this was the way it would always be.

Claudia had stopped being angry with Stacey when she realized that the hate was poison, she just didn't need it. She could almost hear Mimi's soft voice telling her to let go. And after two years of being ignored, Claudia thought that the hurting was over, she was wrong.

It had been earlier that day in the cafeteria, Claudia was the fifth wheel, as usual, to the little group of Kristy, Bart, Logan, and Mary Anne. She might not have stood out from the little group but with Kristy and Bart dressed in jeans, Nikes and ball shirts and Mary Anne and Logan dressed in all but identical kakis and sweaters, Claudia's orange tights, short yellow skirt and purple dashiki flashed like a beacon. Out of boredom Claudia scanned the room, her eyes, without meaning to, fell on Stacey and her group of fashion models. They were looking at her and one toady with an overbite leaned over to Stacey and whispered in her ear then looked back at Claudia. Stacey smiled and whispered back, they both laughed and looked knowingly at Claudia. Claudia felt her face burn and her dark almond eyes grew bright with anger, after two years of ignoring her, why the sudden interest?

Claudia had the sudden desire to be anywhere but in the cafeteria but the only way out was past Stacey's table. "Oh well, shoulders back, head up" she thought. "See you later" she muttered. Claudia shoved various junk food wrappers into her brown sack, stood and walk to the door. She almost made it when overbite toady, in a mock whisper announced to her group "I think only dogs can hear those colors". Claudia didn't need to look to place the sound of the loudest laugh. She had heard it and laughed with it a thousand times. She whirled about, her eyes, stinging with tears, bored into Stacey. Even though she had sworn she would never shed another tear over Stacey's betrayal the tears had come. Her mouth worked but no sound came out. Mary Anne, ever true to her friends had seen the exchange and had Claudia in her arms and was hustling her out the door before Claudia could find her voice. As she stumble out into the hall, out of the corner of her eye Claudia saw the red face of Kristy Thomas, her eyes like thunder, locked onto Stacey. She didn't say a word but those eyes made promises to Stacey and her toadies that everyone knew would be kept.

In the hallway Claudia kept her tears at bay, she would NOT cry. Mary Anne looked at her with genuine concern but before she could say anything Kristy tromped from the lunch room and into the hall. Placing a hand on Claudia's arm she almost whispered, "Do you want me to go back in there and kick her shiny white heinnie"? Mary Anne gasped but Claudia could not help but laugh, only Kristy could defuse a bad situation and make her laugh with the promise of violence. "No", she laughed, as she wiped her eyes. "It's okay, really. Besides, maybe she's right, maybe it's time I grew up. How much do jeans cost anyway"?

"NO"! chorused Kristy and Mary Anne. "Don't you dare!" stated Kristy. "Everyday I make a bet with myself that you can't pull off another fashion statement but everyday you put together something amazing, something that against all odds looks fabulous!"

In her quiet voice of reason Mary Anne spoke as always, from her heart "It isn't the way you dress Claudia, its your sculptures, your paintings, the jewelry that you design, _and_ the way you dress. Its your art, its your gift. Its wild and imaginative, impulsive and brave. You inspire me." Mary Anne shook her head slightly and Claudia caught the shimmer of a gold colored popcorn earring in Mary Anne's left ear and a matching silver colored earring in her right ear. Claudia had painstakingly made them for Mary Anne last Christmas, she was surprised Mary Anne had worn them but just assumed that her shy friend was wearing them to please her. Or perhaps she had found the small 'D' Claudia had worked into the gold earring and the small "S" she had worked into the silver one.

Claudia felt the years melt away. Suddenly it was just the three of them playing hop-scotch in front of the Thomas's house. When she had skinned her knee, Kristy had been there to pick her up and Mary Anne had been there to dress the cut and between the two of them they got her on her feet and playing again like nothing had happened. It was the same when Stacey had moved on. How many nights had Mary Anne held her and rocked her while her tears flowed. Kristy had paced back and forth and every third word out of her mouth had been "bitch", the other words, which Mary Anne had chosen to ignore, were just nasty. Claudia looked up but the smile that was forming on her face vanished when in the cafeteria doorway she saw a mass of blonde hair framing that perfect face, how long had she been standing there? Claudia looked into her eyes, there was a look there that she remembered but from when? Stacey opened her mouth, "Claudia. . . " she began.

"Shut it! McGill!" Kristy hissed without turning around "I've got a six pack of whoop ass in my locker and I've been hoping to open one all day".

Mary Anne tightened her arms around Claudia. She and Kristy led her down the hall and away from Stacey but as she turned away she remembered when she had seen that look in Stacey's eyes. Claudia had only seen it once, it was the day Stacey's parents had told her they were getting divorced.


	2. Stacey

Stacey was exhausted, the sobs that had ravaged her body had thankfully stopped and her hiccups had disappeared when Claudia had put her arms around her. She clung to Claudia, her life line. Stacey knew that if either of them let go her hope would vanish and the last piece of her that mattered would be swallowed by her own vanity.

Stacey didn't know why Claudia was holding her or how she had gotten onto her bed, she ran the lunch room conversation over and over in her mind and she was ashamed. If she had any energy left she would cry more useless tears but fortunately she only had enough strength to hold onto the collar of Claudia's dashiki in one hand and a lock of her long jet-black hair in the other. Stacey spoke the words that burned on her tongue just as the horror of the day hit her again. Somehow she found more tears to shed.

Like a repeating nightmare the lunch room scene forced itself into Stacey's mind again. It started like every lunch since the beginning of the school year. Stacey and Lana walking side by side in perfect step and Terry and Shawna running ahead to save 'their' table. In private Stacey referred to them as thing1 and thing2, not because they reminded her of the characters in the Dr. Seuss book she had read to Charlotte and her other BSC charges hundreds of times but because their personalities were so bland, their smiles so fake, their stories so bewildering boring, (Seriously, a story has a beginning, a middle, and an end, how hard is that?) that Stacey only thought of them as things, like leafs of a table to be extended when needed and hidden away when their duty was done. But they had two things that could not be ignored, looks and money. Terry was tall and stately with a slight overbite while Shawna was short with curves and pouty lips that made the boys of Stoneybrook High stare with goofy smiles. They were as different as night and day but in the end they were the same. There was nothing that their father's money could not buy and no boy they could not charm, as long as the boys didn't try to look behind the curtain to the brainless interior that lay beyond. Like two different books with the same ending, to know one was to be bored by the other.

But Lana was different, Lana's father had money too but she was beautiful where Terry and Shawna were simply cute. Where Terry and Shawna were vapid Lana was smart, and cunning. She had red hair and green eyes and everyone thought that she was fiery but Stacey knew better, after two years she knew the fire for the ice that it was. Stacey might refer to Terry and Shawna as thing1 and thing2 in private to Lana but she would never dare to speak Lana's nickname, Icebitch aloud. When Lana was pleased her 'wit' only cut like a January wind but when she was angry, an emotion Lana would never admit to having, she could freeze you where you stood and burn you down with the black ice that shone behind her green eyes.

On her first day at Stoneybrook high Stacey had been drawn to her. Lana's hair, and makeup were perfect. Stacey didn't need to see the labels of Lana's clothes to know that they came from the best shops in NYC. Stacey remembered how she had looked at Lana and then at Claudia and had come to an almost instantaneous decision. Goodwill daring was out and 5th Avenue was in. She had no idea that this decision would, two years later, lead her back to Claudia, ashamed, and the best part of her all but gone.

Stacey didn't know how to tell Claudia that she would not, could not fit into the life she saw for herself at SHS. Nor would any of the old BSC for that matter. The popularity and boys and parties would not come to her if she where weighed down by her past. Since she didn't know how to tell them to go away Stacey simply stopped talking to them. It was difficult at first but as the days past it got easier as their faces faded. All of her old life faded under the glow of Lana's cold green eyes. Except for Laine Cummings.

Stacey would almost always see Laine on her infrequent trips to NYC. During her freshman year she and Laine would get together and laugh and giggle and compare notes about their friends and the boys at their schools. During her sophomore year Stacey's trips to NYC became more frequent and Laines visits went late into the night. On those nights Laine would often stay over with Stacey. They would snuggle in Stacey's bed and whisper like they had when they were children. It was just after Christmas when Laine kissed Stacey for the first time.

Stacey was confused but it seem somehow impolite to break the kiss. Eventually, Laine pulled away and giggled. "Practice", she had said, for when she and Stacey had steady boyfriends. Stacey and Laine practiced till early morning and every weekend that Stacey went to NYC after that.

The practice turned into "experiments" as Laine called it and as the snow melted into dirty black piles around the city the experiments got more intense. Laine knew just what to do to get a fire started in Stacey's body but it wasn't until her 16th birthday in early April when Laine gave Stacey her "special" present that she brought the fire roaring out of Stacey's body. They lay together afterwards in pleasant silence. A silence that was broken when Laine insisted that they get some sleep so they could get up early to go shopping. It was then that Stacey came to grips with her sexuality and knew that she wanted a special woman in her life. She also knew that Laine was not that woman. She had know for some time now that Laine was tiring of their experiments. Her special birthday present was their Swan Song. The tune had been exquisite and had been given freely and with love but Stacey knew it was a parting gift of a re-found old friend and not of a new lover. When Stacey left on the train the next day Laine, who had driven her there, gave her a peck on the cheek and a smile, the fire was gone but the warmth remained. Stacey hugged her and smiled back.

It was on the ride back to Stoneybrook when Stacey first realized how alone she was. Her time with Laine had been wonderful, a pleasant diversion from the Icebitch and thing1 and thing2, but she felt like a young bird about to leap head first from the safety of the only home she had known. Stacey had reached the country side when the melancholy hit her with full force. Who was she? Laine loved her but she was not her answer. Stacey closed her eyes and, unbidden, a face came to her. Framed in jet-black hair was a face that Stacey knew well. But the full lips where pressed into a firm line, the exotic cheeks where sharp and uninviting, the almond eyes where hard and black and stared into Stacey's soul. The accusation was plain, the hurt was masked by the severity of the eyes but Stacey new it was there, just below the surface. The kind of hurt that never goes away.

It was then that Stacey new why she was alone, she knew who she was. She was something worse than things 1 and 2 for she had a brain but had not used it. She was something worse than the Icebitch for she had a heart but refused to listen to it. What was left but courage? Her former friends had courage flowing through them like the blood in their veins. Kristy showed it every time she stepped into the batters box, or stood up for herself or her friends or family. Kristy was always the first to step forward and take the brunt of an attack head on, it was who she was. Mary Anne's courage was more subtle but just as remarkable. How much courage did it take to open your heart so wide and to anyone who needs it? Every time Mary Anne spoke with her heart she took the chance that someone might break it, but she did it anyway, it was who she was. And Claudia? For years she had withstood the quiet fury of her parents who showed no interest in her abilities and dismissed her art as childish. But Claudia persevered. Her courage was never so evident then when she showed a new sculpture or exhibited her paintings. Or dressed in some extraordinary combination of green and black. Claudia was who she was because her courage allowed her to be true to her nature.

Stacey was alone because she didn't use her brain or listen to her heart and she knew now who she was, she was a cowered. Her old friends had found their courage and when one of them was burdened with troubles the others where there share the load. Stacey had thing 1 and thing 2 and the Icebitch. Stacey knew then that she was dying and had been dying a little bit each day. She knew that the best part of her, the part that long to be back with the BSC, to be back with Claudia would soon be gone. She did not have the courage to get that part of her back. Stacey wept the rest of the way home, she had no one to share her burden.

Summer came and Stacey was reminded at how small Stoneybrook was whenever she saw Claudia. Without knowing it Stacey had watched Claudia grow into the woman she would soon become. She was kind and sure like Mimi but was also beautiful and slender like her mother. And, Stacey noticed, willowy like Dawn. At the thought of Dawn, Stacey smiled and said the silent prayer she had come up with that gave her comfort whenever Dawn crossed her mind. "Dawn is the light that will guide my way". Stacey had always believed it before this summer but now she knew it was a hollow lie she told herself. So many times she wanted to approach Claudia to tell her how sorry she was, to ask, no, beg for forgiveness but as always her courage failed her. Summer faded to fall and school began.

Stacey hadn't seen much of Terry and Shawna or Lana over the summer as they were on separate trips. Europe or Cabo or some such. But on the first day of school they where waiting for her at the top of the steps of SHS. This was their year thing2 had said. They were finally upper classmen. Let the good times roll, and Stacey felt another piece of her slip away.

Days passed and the cold with the promise of snow came early. It was on a cold day when sitting in the school cafeteria Stacey saw Claudia sitting at a table close to hers. Stacey's breath caught in her throat, the purple dashiki, which would have been ridiculous on anyone else set off Claudia skin, she seemed to almost glow with an inner light. It was then that thing 1 saw her staring at Claudia and the nightmare began to run forward. Thing 1 had made a rude comment about Claudia's outfit. In the past Stacey would have shut her up with a look, she knew how she had hurt Claudia and she had no wish to compound the injury. But today, Lana, who had always let Stacey have her way with her old friends wasn't going to let it go. She smiled her ice cold smile, it was time to toy with underlings. "I'd like it" said Lana, "if I were 10 and going trick or treating"

Stacey froze, a sick smile on her face. What was Lana doing? Her old friends were off limits and she knew it. Terry got a gleam in her eye as another comment somehow entered her head. As she leaned over to Stacey to share her fun, Claudia turned her gaze on their table. Terry said something that Stacey didn't catch. "What"? she whispered back, unable to look away from those almond eyes. Thing 1's vapidity returned and she simply laughed at Stacey's question. Stacey laughed too, "What am I doing?" Stacey silently shouted to herself, she didn't know what else to do. Stacey saw Claudia's eyes begin to smolder and grow bright with an inner fire. She watched as Claudia quickly cleaned her table and stood up, her small frame rocked ever so slightly and her long hair fell like a shimmering black water fall across her face. But then her head came up and she marched across the lunch room.

She had almost made it to the door when thing1 made another comment that Stacey couldn't understand. To Stacey's horror when the others laughed she did too, a great horse laugh born of nerves and confusion. When Claudia turned to face her, Stacey saw the tears and felt Claudia's heart break and in that moment Stacey new she had died, her body just didn't know it. Stacey wanted to stand up and rush to Claudia, take her in her arms tell her it was over, that she was sorry, she wanted to tell her all the things she had said to the dark every night while she lay in bed over the summer. But her courage failed her and before she could let out the scream her body needed to vent Mary Anne had Claudia in her arms and was leading her away. Stacey's voice screamed in her head, "Don't take her away! Don't take her away! She has to know! I have to tell her!" And then there was Kristy, standing before them looking twice her size with eyes of death. Stacey could almost hear things 1 and 2 whimper and even the Icebitch melted a bit in her chair.

Kristy turned on her heel and strode from the lunch room like an avenging angel who had decided to spare the wicked. Stacey realized that Claudia was gone, that she would be gone forever. All summer long she had fantasized that she would somehow get Claudia to listen to her. Somehow all the years that they were friends would mean something and that Claudia would forgive her. But now Claudia was gone and her courage, from a great need, flared within her. Stacey jump from her chair and rushed to the doorway. She saw Claudia standing with Mary Anne's arms wrapped tight around her. She heard Kristy's encouragement and Mary Anne's wisdom. In those few sentences they were able to tell Claudia all the things that Stacey had wanted to say all summer. Claudia was being ripped away from her and an emptiness filled Stacey's heart. When Claudia saw her standing in the doorway she had to say. . . something, anything. "Claudia, " she began but her wisp of desperate courage was crushed by Kristy's words, and Stacey knew that it was finally over. Her vanity had swallow the last bit of her.


	3. Claudia2

Claudia didn't know if she should be offering any comfort to Stacey. She had hurt her. Worse than that she had ignored her. Didn't she understand what that was like? If she had yelled, if they had fought at least it would have shown that she had cared enough to end their friendship for a reason. But to simply ignore her like she had never existed, to treat her like a candy bar wrapper to be tossed aside, that had hurt worse than a book of angry words. But out of the torrent of sorrys that had streamed from her lips there had been an "I love you". It was plain and simple and for a brief instant the hysteria had left Stacey's eyes and was replaced with a plead, not a plead for forgiveness but a plead for. . . what?

Claudia wasn't sure why Stacey simple declaration had touched her, had drained her anger but she had put her arms around Stacey's trembling body and had lifted her on to her bed. Claudia lay Stacey down on the bed and tried to stand up but the blonde woman's hand was tangled in Claudia's hair. When she bent down to dislodge it Stacey reached out with her other hand and caught the collar of her dashiki. Claudia could have broken her grip but she could feel Stacey pulling weakly at her collar. Stacey's lips moved but she could not hear her words. Claudia bent down, letting Stacey pull her into a weak embrace. She placed her ear next to Stacey's lips and barely heard Stacey whisper, "Dawn is the light". Stacey rolled her head back so she could look into Claudia's eyes, "I love you" she barely whispered, and the tears came again. Claudia pulled Stacey's head to her shoulder with one hand and cradled her trembling shoulders with the other. She automatically started making the noises we all make when our friends need us. Claudia needed to think, and until she was done she would let Stacey cry into her shoulder. She took a deep breath and smelled. . . apples?

As she thought, her mind drifted to the events of the day. She had wanted to go home and after Mary Anne and Kristy had led her to her locker Mary Anne had gotten her black and silver jacket out and draped it around her shoulders. After a quick stop at Kristy's locker for her jacket the trio headed for the parking lot. Mary Anne stopped at the exit door and hugged Claudia again, some one had to stay and tell the school nurse that Claudia had to go home and that Kristy had driven her.

When Kristy pulled up in front of the Kishi home she offered to sit with Claudia for as long as she wanted. Claudia smiled and told Kristy she was not getting out of French class that easily and after a quick, rare hug from Kristy and promises to call later, Claudia let herself into her families home and mounted the steps to her room. She sat in the old directors chair and stared at the her painting. It was nearly finished except for the face, it was still just a shadow. It was a woman, Claudia knew that but who? Claudia had waited all summer for a muse to guide her but none had come. Claudia leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. When she opened them again her room was almost dark. She had slept without waking for. . . how long? She flipped on the light of her desk lamp which always bathed her room in a soft light just bright enough to read by but dim enough for her to doze when she wished. Claudia knew her parents would not be home till late as her mother was reorganizing the resource room at the library and her father would take the opportunity to work late as well.

Claudia was starved and thinking about dinner when she heard the front door fly open and footsteps pounding up the stairs. At first she thought is was Kristy coming up to check on her. The last person Claudia expected to see was the blue eyed witch Stacey McGill. Claudia stood in shock and the hate that had poisoned her mind for so long came back to her with a renewed vigor. Anger and shock mixed with a dozen hatful feeling welled up inside Claudia but before it could spill out and engulf her intruder Stacey collapsed to the floor. At first Claudia thought she was laughing, Stacey's shoulders shook up and down but no sound came out. And then it did come out, it was as if a dam had broken on two years of emotion and it could not come out fast enough. Stacey cried and then the sobs began, great wrenching sobs. Claudia watched as Stacey tried to speak but only unintelligent sounds made it past the staccato, labored breathing. The only word Claudia could make out was sorry. Over and over again like a litany Stacey repeated the word and then launch into another unintelligible discourse. For what seemed like hours Stacey sat on the floor with tears running down her face and pooling on the floor in front of her. Claudia stood over her and watched with increasing alarm, what if she never stopped? What if she did stop, what would she say? Suddenly, without warning, Stacey looked up into Claudia's eyes , Claudia saw the hysteria give way for just a moment and then she spoke the words that stopped Claudia from throwing the blonde back out into the street. Her energy spent, Stacey sat with head down staring at what, Claudia didn't know. The occasional hiccup rocking her body from time to time. Claudia was not sure exactly why she knelt down next to Stacey, it could have been the words or the pleading in the eyes or maybe for the past two years a denied spark of hope had lived inside her. But she wrapped Stacey in her arms and lifted her to the bed.


	4. Stacey 2

Stacey walked to her locker like a woman in a dream. It didn't even occur to her that while Mary Anne and Kristy had flocked to Claudia to support and protect her, Stacey's friends had simply let her go. She got her jacket and mechanically pulled it on. She didn't think to button it up but when she went into the cold she didn't feel it. Stacey walked the streets for hours. In the back of her head she knew she would have to eat soon or her diabetes would be a problem. She suddenly realized that her left hand had been wrapped around an apple in her jacket for hours. She slowly ate the apple and began to think. When she finished the apple Stacey lifted her head and was not amazed to find herself standing in front of Claudia's house. The sun had set and the last vestiges of twilight were slowly disappearing. Stacey's eyes automatically found Claudia's window. It was dark. She was probably with Kristy or Mary Anne or both. Stacey tried to find that part of her that cared. She tried to find the good part of her but she couldn't. The last of the best of her had slipped through her fingers when she saw Claudia's heart break.

Stacey turned away and let her feet start the long walk back to her house. Tomorrow would be another day with thing 1 and thing 2 and the Icebitch. Stacey didn't think she could take it. As always when Stacey was at her worst she thought of Dawn. Dawn would never have let it come to this. She always new what to do. Stacey remembered how much Dawn had always puzzled Claudia. How could she not want to eat chocolate? And Gummie Bears? Stacey's prayer came to her as she turned the corner to her own street and she took one last look at Claudia's house. "Dawn is the li . . ." Claudia had turned on her desk lamp. It wasn't easy to see but Stacey knew, "that will guide my way". In that moment Stacey knew that Dawn had given her back a piece of her better part, and with it, hope. Stacey raced back down Bradford Court, she knew the door would be unlocked, it seemed to fly open at her touch and the stairs carried her up to Claudia's room. Stacey stopped when she found herself standing across from Claudia. She was beautiful. And the sorrow and the horror of the day and of the last 2 years hit her and the nightmare of the lunchroom unfolded before her. The floor came up to meet her and the sobs tore at her chest.


	5. ClaudiaStacey

Claudia took another breath. It was apples. Stacey always smelled of apples. It was the one 'sweet' she could have that did not aggravate her diabetes. Claudia almost smiled at the memory and against her better judgment pulled the blonde closer to her. It was then that Claudia felt the cold radiating from Stacey's body. Stacey was no longer trembling but she was shivering almost uncontrollably. Claudia reached behind her and her hand found one of the many quilts that Mimi had made for her. She gently laid the blanket over Stacey and, as an after thought she stretched the blanket over herself as well. Still not knowing why, Claudia pulled Stacey closer to her. As Stacey drifted into a troubled sleep, Claudia thought she heard her say something about leading the way.

Claudia let Stacey sleep while she continued to think. Some times the sleeping blonde's breathing would quicken and she would mutter something under her breath and twice she had woken with a start, her eyes flying open in panic. But both times she would see Claudia's dark chocolate eyes looking into hers. Stacey's look of frank disbelief was plain for her to see but Claudia just stroked Stacey's hair and lulled her back to sleep. At some point her parents came home but as they heard no sound from their daughter's room they just assumed that she had fallen asleep reading again. They knew they would hear her come down the steps around midnight to find something to eat. Claudia could not keep the food demons at bay for long.

Claudia didn't know how long she had dozed off for but when she awoke she found herself looking into Stacey's sleepy eyes. "I should go", whispered Stacey. When Claudia said nothing Stacey rolled into a sitting position. Her breath quickened when her body hit the cold night air. She knew she had to leave but try as she might she could not untangle her right hand from Claudia's hair. She put her head down just for a second to catch her breath and started to sway, that's when she knew something was wrong. Claudia, who had been debating whether or not to let Stacey go home this late at night, suddenly knew something was wrong too and years of instincts of being a diabetics best friend kicked in. Claudia was up and had Stacey's head in her hands. She breathed an unseen sigh of relief when she saw that Stacey was responsive and was trying not to smile. "What" Claudia questioned. "Nothing" Stacey responded. How could she tell her former best friend how wonderful it was to have someone actually care about her?

Claudia wasn't convinced but knew she had to move fast. "Where is your kit?" Stacey pointed to her jacket, she knew her kit would be there. Despite all that had happen. . . was it only yesterday? A few hours Ago? Stacey would never get to far from her kit. Claudia got out the small bag and quickly removed the glucose reader. She held Stacey's finger and pricked it with the lance. She smeared a drop of blood onto a test strip and put it into the reader. She knew she would have to wait for a bit for the reader to display the information so Claudia got out the alcohol swabs and the needles and the small bottle of insulin. The insulin should have been in the refrigerator but she looked at the expiration date and deemed it suitable. When the reader beeped she looked at the number and let out another sigh of relief. Stacey's blood sugar was low but not dangerously so. "How much?" asked Claudia. Stacey had been watching Claudia with increasing fascination and almost missed the questions. "Uuummm…." she had to think, she told Claudia the number of cc she would need and again sat in silent fascination while Claudia pulled the plunger out to the measured amount on the needle before she inserted it into the bottle. She squeezed the air out and then drew the insulin into the needle. Stacey could hardly believe that Claudia remembered how to fill the needle in such a way as to minimize bubbles. A bubble could kill Stacey as quick as a heart attack. Claudia handed the full needle to Stacey. The almond eyed girl could give her the injection if needed but as much as she had gotten used to the needles she had never quite gotten to the point where giving the shot didn't give her the wiggins.

While Stacey was prepping a spot on her side to inject herself she said to Claudia, "I'll need to eat soon". Claudia nodded and hesitated then she reached into the big drawer of her bedside table and pulled out a half bag of pretzels. "This was the last bag that I got for Dawn, they're pretty stale." she said as she handed them to Stacey. Stacey didn't know what to say, "Thank you." she whispered. It was all she could think of. She put the bag down and handed Claudia the empty needle with another whispered "thank you". "We have apples and orange juice down stairs" Claudia said, as she put the items back into the little bag. "I'll go down and get you some."

It was then that Claudia noticed that Stacey's hand was still tangled in her hair. Even when she had given herself the injection she must have done it one handed. Normally Stacey would pinch off a bit of skin and inject into that. It was less painful and less likely to hit a vein.

Claudia looked at Stacey's hand, then into her crystal blue eyes. She saw the hysteria start to creep into those beautiful orbs. Claudia reached down and took Stacey's wrist gently in her right hand and then just as gently placed her left hand into hers. For the first time in hours Stacey let go of Claudia's hair. Stacey new that she would have to let go of her soon as her bladder was pressing the issue but she followed Claudia down stairs and hand in hand they got snacks for Stacey and ice cream for Claudia.

When they got back up to Claudia's room Stacey's bladder had finally push the issue to emergency status. She looked at Claudia and started "Ahhh… I have to… ". "Me too." Finished Claudia, "Go ahead, I promise I'll be here when you get back." Stacey hurried as fast as she could and was almost surprised when Claudia came back from her turn.

They sat together on the edge of the bed and ate their food in silence as a food demon was upon them and there seemed to be nothing to say. When they had finished Stacey looked at her feet for a few minutes waiting for Claudia to speak. When the silence became deafening she whispered, "I should go." She glanced at the old digital clock on Claudia's desk and was surprised to see that it was only 2:00am.

Claudia silently climbed into bed. She wasn't quite ready to admit it to herself but she was beginning to understand why she had held Stacey all through the early night hours, and why she now held the blankets open so Stacey could get in to the small bed next to her, and why she would hold her even closer for the rest of the night.


	6. Epilogue

Epilogue

The two girls did not fall asleep right away as they had been sleeping on and off most of the evening. Nor did they chatter away as young ladies on sleepovers are want to do. But between the silences, declarations were declared that both girls knew to be true and promises were made that both girls knew would never be broken. Apologies and tears, some of grief, some of joy. And during the silence there was touching of noses and finger tips running down an arm or simply stroking hair or tracing a jaw. And one soft, unexpected stolen kiss that left Stacey surprised and breathless.

In the wee hours of the morning, just before the false dawn Claudia untangled herself from Stacey. The pretty girl protested in her sleep but quieted down when Claudia stroked her soft blonde mane and kissed her quickly but with great care on her temple. She breathed deep once more. Mmmmmmmm…. apples.

Claudia went to her desk and directed the pale lamp light to the painting in the corner. She quietly set about mixing her paints and preparing her pallet. By the time the first rays of the real dawn entered her room, Claudia was ready to finish her painting. Her muse had finally come and it was time to find out who the woman on her canvas was.

AN: I stole the apple part from somebody on this site. Actually I came up with it myself before I read the other story but I liked the idea so I kept it. Who every you are that I stole the apple from, I'm sorry. I did like your story and perhaps we can call it a tribute. Also I own nothing, NOTHING.


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